The quiet monstrous role of prayer.

Trust in him at all times, O people;

    pour out your heart before him;

    God is a refuge for us.  

PSALM 62:8

It is a huge relief, delight and joy to restart the blog and prayer emails today. It was appropriate (whilst we travelled, security issues abounded and keeping those we serve safe remained the highest priority)  to have a pause on public / web prayer information, and updating on some forums. I have been more frustrated by this than anyone. Prayer is the foundational work of all we seek to do in mission and for ourselves as those privileged to live in the sunshine of  the love, forgiveness, grace and redemptive work of God.

We live in a world whereby even the best of motives can be turned against the church and misused for evil. However, in many ways this just reinforces what a mighty weapon prayer is in the spiritual battle. 

• Why would the atheist be so irate at us talking to one they believe doesn't exist? 
• What is evil about praying for those who are suffering in war, flood, displacement or hunger ? Those who hate the church (and ways of GOD) will always gaze past the good to find a route of complaint. 

During the pause, 3 things were spotlighted for me.

1) In all things God is able.  God doesn't need Internet blogs or massive prayer-chains or me, to do immeasurably more than we can think or imagine. 

• In Philippians Paul is confined to isolation of prison, a common primitive "holding cell" or guard in house arrest were his only visible audience. Yet his isolation is fruitful as he takes every concern of the churches to God in prayer. God is never absent from us, he is more above us than we could ever understand, but more imminently close than we could ever dream.  Paul's isolation results in impacting and advance of the gospel to the glory of God. (1:13, cf  Acts 28:16) 
• Two things pepper this book and characterise it; joy and prayer. 
• Both come together as we pray (note 1:3--11) 
• Christian Joy, in Christ, his people and our daily purpose is not conditioned by circumstance. Prayer is the constant privilege of the believer regardless of circumstance.  

• PHIL 3:20 IS THE GROWING AND FRUITFUL CONVICTION OF ALL TRUE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Prayer reminds us of our true identity, purpose and privilege: 

 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,  who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 

• We are citizens of Heaven, by rescue of Christ and the indwelling Spirit of God. We are eternally loved children of God, set apart for the purposes of God, with a single clear conviction "to live for Christ" (1:21) This purpose does not disappear with changing circumstance, but actually intensifies amidst suffering, hardship and within the eternal power filled purposes of God's provision.
• Prayer gives us more than we could ever ask, a joy which comes from being intimate with the ultimate one, who calls us to come closer. Whether prayer is a planned, discipline period of time set aside, or the reiteration of existing life cries (from the heart, as new creations in the will of God) within the busy workaday world -  the result is that we become more like Jesus, and more invigorated / garrisoned for his purposes. The privilege of calling on our Father who gives all good things (James 1:17)  is never about what what we gain in gifts or material benefits but it is far greater. (Romans 8:15-17. 26-28) 
•  Praying reminds us that we are safe in the mighty grip of the over generous superlative giver and lover of our souls, the one who gives us His Son, the one who is never slow to give, but knowing the hairs on our heads clearly knows our micro and macro need better than us and has provided accordingly. There is a freedom from worry in this, a greater liberty to concentrate on His purposes and preferences and not our own. Behind all intimate conversations with God, our prayers come through  the access of Christ alone, and reignite our pleasure in the affirmation of his Lordship alone. In this habitat we learn that behind our Amen is the greater AMEN of God's good, eternal, fruitful, majestic purposes, fulfilled in Christ, which are ongoing for our redemption and sanctification. 
• PRAYER CHANGES US: Many times we may fall Into thinking that our ultimate purpose is praying for others, but simultaneously as we pray for others God's primary purposes are often working on us to conform us to the image of his Son, and better fit us in with his global kingdom purposes. His ultimate purposes are greater than any one individual, denomination, group of believers or section of the globe. Living for the bigger under God is what we were made for, and the reason we are alive in his world today. 

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. "  (Col 1:15–20).

• PRAYER IS BIGGER THAN WE UNDERSTAND: On our own  we should never give up on prayer or underestimate the potency of regular, humble, obedient honesty before God. "ONE WITH GOD IS A MAJORITY". Because of who we cry to and depend on, there is a sense in which private prayer will always have wider (global) ramifications, as it did with Daniel whose private prayer life fuelled both a country and prominent public life in an eternal context of world empires and world history under the eternal ruler. Old Testament Kings like Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar are shown to be in the grip of God to accomplish his purposes. 
• Proverbs 21: 1 "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. 
  

• 
  

  Cyrus' cylinder kept in the British museum. On it is inscribed, “the gods who dwelt there I returned to their home and let them move into an eternal dwelling'. Behind all the movements of world and empire leaders is the controlling and conclusive hand of the only eternal Sovereign.
  
  

 

2) The purpose of intercession is to serve and fit in with God's purposes ... not to be a master.

• I remember sitting in a large evangelical conference not so long ago and being struck by the fact that the same things were happening year after year. I guessed they thought if people keep coming, why change the formulae? It felt a bit like a (bad fashion) version of Groundhog Day though. Books were being sold in their thousands (again),  the worship leader was plugging their new album and song (again) , the career conference speakers seem to have done little since the last conference other than speaking at conferences. Just at that moment a really evil thought came into my mind... "maybe the conference idea had become a bit "the master" and stopped "serving" the purpose and people it was designed for ? Would it be an idea to redirect the great time and expense of thousands of people (millions of pounds actually) one year to frontline mission in an unreached people group". Knowing that I was obviously out of step with everyone else, and I'm am eccentric oddbod,  I quickly repented and turned my middle class ("unsandled") feet back to the bookshop to buy more books I couldn't fit on my shelves.
• The point is that sometimes we forget why we are doing things ... ministries... and people... are to serve (MARK 10:43-45 ) and not be masters. This is true in all Christian organisations or networks, and especially true of prayer ministry. Think of Romans 16

"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae,  that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well."
Two things strike me... 

• It is Paul who is doing the commending. Phoebe is not commending herself. I hear the phrase sometimes that "he or she" is "a prayer warrior". We possibly know what that means, but sometimes that phrase can become a little nebulous in our hazy and lazy Christian jargon. Praying a lot doesn't necessarily guarantee that your work / prayer ministry or prayer meeting is being strategic, mighty or even fruitful in the purposes of God. It could actually in some cases be an excuse for an individual to gossip or being the one who wants to be known for knowing everything, an over spiritualised veneer which covers their sinful character of selfish ambition. 
• Some elderly groups who meet for prayer can be incredibly strategic, and my ministry in the main is built on such faithfulness.I stand on the shoulders of those who have gone prayerfully before me and pray now for the team, and the many others who make up for the many inadequacies I have.  I am reaping in every sense the benefits of faithful prayer servants in many different corners of my life and around the world. I in no way want to minimise the prayers of older saints, or do anything other than give great praise and appreciation to God for this. But... I need to balance this, with a reality check and realisation that the human heart is sinful beyond understanding. I've also come across those who tell me that they have a great prayer ministry and commend themselves. Some friends I love have been guilty of doing nothing other than filling empty days with information about people to fulfil their inquisitive minds and feel valued in the Information age, and they do it because they say they have a "prayer ministry". Those who "gather for prayer" with the veneer of great nobility can also growingly become demanding for information, intrusive with personal detail,  and want  to be listened to (always have their say) regarding what is being prayed for.  In this they can also be guilty of not serving the very ones they seek to serve, but instead be destructively working against them. Warriors who unwittingly fight for the enemy, sow division, and model  unhelpful behaviour (however well meaning, outwardly harmless and articulate) are no more wanted or beneficial than saboteurs (Matt 7:15). Divisive and damaging speech or motives are no different regardless of whether someone works publicly on a high profile stage  or subversively in a quiet backroom. Prayer should never be a warrant card for sinful individualism. 
• In Ukraine Saboteurs have been routed out from local civil leadership and government, because they used their position to invite the invader into the heartland. Exposing them and rooting them out one way or another was an urgent and vital task for the safety and health of society (and especially to protect evangelical believers). In the church the issue for us as leaders has parallels in spiritual warfare.  Healthy prayer with genuine servitude benefits everyone. Unhealthy prayer, individualism or self serving / wrong motives can be equally wide reaching and damaging when unaddressed. 

Second and final observation from Romans 16:

3) It is never "Just" prayer. Prayer is about relationship.

One of the beautiful undercurrents of Paul's commendation is that Phoebe is unreservedly trusted, and therefore wholeheartedly commended. When someone becomes a tested and trusted champion servant of God's people, wherever God directs them, their character, life and ministry and impact automatically grows and grows in fruitfulness. It is a beautiful dynamic which increasingly overspills to others. 

Prayer is never insignificant, but it can be less useful / purposeful in our own lives if we want it to be. 

It is well documented that those who say "let's just pray about that..." (maybe unwittingly) haven't thought about the dynamic significance and reach of prayer. The main significance of prayer doesn't rest in how long we spend praying, or how many times we pray, but tin the one we pray to. No doubt in most cases the phrase Is said to express love to the individual they want to pray for the phrase has become an unfortunate,  unconsidered habit.  

Maybe however there is another error we make in minimising prayer. Prayer is an ever tightening bond of love for those whom we pray for. In this sense prayer is a God given tool or mechanism... not an end or ultimate purpose in itself, but an ordained means of God at work in our lives. Take for example the phrase "forgive us as we forgive those...". The main work of that phrase is to reset us as those who remember we are creatures of grace, beneficiaries and ambassadors of absolute and undeserved forgiveness. True prayer always carries more significant work than we can comprehend (or are maybe aware of) as we conform to thinking God's thoughts after him by the help of his Spirit. Prayer synchronises us more to the heartbeat of God for others, for salvation, for his glory and our good.

Our world needs more relational champions. Those who stick closer than a brother, (rather than pray and forget) are countercultural in our instant fix world which lacks commitment on so many levels. Our world has enough platitudes, and not so much fortitude. If you want proof... try phoning a call centre, monitor your reaction after a hold of 20 minutes when you hear "your call is very important to us". This is no more true than in the world of missions. Many talk of mission, few go, even fewer pray. It is a privilege to pray for those on the frontline of the eternal advance of God's kingdom. With that privilege comes responsibility to follow through on what we pray. 

Prayer should produce sensitivity and social / relational awareness: Saying to someone loudly in church " we prayed for your miscarriage", or "we've been praying that you won't be lonely after your divorce" (sadly both real examples) may just compound trauma, and  in fact remind those folks that they have lost a precious one, that they still have many difficult moments in trauma and loss to come, a long, hard lonely road to travel. Sometimes, keeping our prayers private or choosing our moments to remind people that we pray for them (without going into detail) can also be a good thing.  if our only motive in telling another we are praying for them is to make ourselves feel better - it is better not to say anything. 

Prayer should clarify our motives and shape our actions. 

If we pray that God will provide for someone should we just say "Amen" and forget about them? What does God see of our heart in this dynamic? Doesn't genuine prayer make us hungry and ready to open our own pockets or find those who can? Many times we are unable to fulfil all the needs of all people and situations personally, and it is unrealistic to think we can go unreservedly, limitlessly to help many if any situations. In a broken world this is needs will remain before Christ returns, and it is damaging and overbearing on ourselves and others to think that we could ever attend to all brokenness. We are not the saviour - He is. In such instances of genuine and realistic need however, shouldn't we  refrain from saying "we will just pray - it is all we can do"? Rather than walking away or disappearing in puff of smoke like Hudini (as if we are excused to escape as soon as we utter the magic word "prayer"),  shouldn't we instead then actively look for those who can help whilst we are unable ? A prayerful phonecall, considered chat over coffee, email, text, FaceTime, what's app, IM to the right person can be strategically so used of God, and sometimes a more noble thing than "just praying". Praying for someone whilst going to pick up their prescription for them, or whilst delivering them a meal, enters a whole other dimension of genuine intercession. Church leaders should be the first to exemplify, model and commend this kind of prayer, however busy they are, and however relieved from practical ministries their large team helps them to be. The motive to serve and pray goes together. 

Galatians 6:1b-5

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbour.  For each will have to bear his own load.

Praise GOD that he gives us everything we need, in all situations and all circumstances. (2 Peter 1:3-4) (Phil 4:19) What a Father we come to, whose mercy is new every morning and whose compassion, grace, and generosity go beyond our understanding. 

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SOVEREIGN LORD, ETERNAL AND ONLY LIVING GOD, LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER... 

• Lead us to be the people who humbly walk into fruitfulness together... in our prayer lives particularly and service of your people and purposes. Lord, teach us how to pray. Our chief prayer together is to honour the Saviour and only rescuer of all people, who loves us and gave himself for us. We exist to commend the one who has bought us, and brought us together with a price, the commander who reigns and rules, risen victorious over sin, death, hell, Satan and all the enemies of God. We praise you ! You LORD JESUS are the forerunner who has gone before us and intercedes for us in all things. We want our lives to be shaped by your commands and directives alone. Help us to be servants, those who love your beautiful  bride. We commit to lay our lives down before you for the service of your people, knowing that this is your eternal priority and heart. 
• We come repenting of our self centredness and narrow mindedness. We are aware that confessed sin comes to you,  the only one who has made a way and has given the power for us to be victorious over sin. Help us Holy Spirit to have the liberty of self forgetfulness in your grip of grace, and fill us with a greater comprehension of your greatness, grace and generosity, your power to accomplish that which you have started both in us and your global kingdom. Continue to work on us in your patience as we submit to your written word which only works wisdom and good in us. We are slow learners Lord, but our genuine desire is to love you more and grow to be more fruitful for you. This is especially true in our prayer lives. 
• In all things help us to be the jigsaw piece shaped by you, to fit in with you purposes whatever stage of life, and context we serve in, and resources we serve with. Help us as a group of prayers to fit seamlessly  well into your global purposes and provision together so that; more who are unreached come to know you, more who are needing the help of your global family are helped, more who are walking with you become more like Jesus. 
• In this is our greatest prayer for ourselves. We want to be more like Jesus. For your ultimate glory, we give ourselves with joy and unreservedly to you, for you are our only, ultimate and incomprehensible treasure.  To you alone is our optimum and supreme gratitude. You are the one we worship, and long to so much better, with overwhelming thankfulness and love. We are reminded that all of this privilege is undeserved, and yet there is more to come, for us the best is yet to come in you. When you come to  ultimately complete your global eternal purposes of redemption, all generations and peoples will honour you. For this we long, for you alone are worthy of all glory, and more than our very best.  Help us therefore to love and live purposefully this way, in the joy and security that your presence and your presence alone brings today.  Oh that this broken world and our hurting neighbours might taste and see the riches of your grace.  This eternal, settled position in Christ in which we find ourselves covers all vistas of life and all momentary circumstances with an incompressible delight. We are the most privilege people on the planet. Your gracious embrace overwhelms us, you define our very existence and purpose, and you outshine all things, and will go on to do so for all eternity, So we pray today that you would take that glory and honouring from our lives as we seek to serve and fit in with you today, however you see best. 

AMEN